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Current AffairsJosef Lada's paintings an enduring symbol of Czech Christmas
For many readers around the world, Josef Lada's illustrations of the Good
Soldier Svejk are inextricably linked to the famous character created by
Jaroslav Hasek. But Josef Lada did far more than illustrate Hasek's novel,
and his idealized paintings of carol singers and family gatherings are for
many in this country an enduring symbol of Czech Christmas.
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Current AffairsSvejk outgrows "Czech boots" in New York
Fans of Czech literature will no doubt already be familiar with Jaroslav
Hasek's early 20th century novel "The Good Soldier Svejk", a
massive satirical tome in which the author's ridiculously smiling,
moon-faced hero, Svejk, reduces the Austro-Hungarian Empire to something
of a mockery in the course of his adventures in the First World War. Now
Svejk has been adapted for the stage. A new theatre production is underway
at the Theatre for a New Audience in New York, based on an adaptation by
Irish playwright Colin Teevan.
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Current Affairs'Harry Potter' and 'Lord of the Rings' top list of Czechs' favorite books
And the winner is: "Harry Potter," and not by a nose. In a
nationwide survey of nearly 100,000 people, Czech readers have named the
English author J.K. Rowling as having penned their favorite book.
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Czech BooksProfessor Peter Steiner - finding water in the Deserts of Bohemia
In this week's programme we talk to Professor Peter Steiner, who wrote a
fascinating book about Czech literature. He was born in Prague and left in
1968 to go to America. He taught at Michigan and Harvard before settling
at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches in the department of Slavic
languages and literature.
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Current AffairsEnjoying a Czech beer at the Svejk pub in Stockholm
The Czech pub Krogen Soldaten Svejk - which of course translates as the
Good Soldier Svejk in English - is located in the lively district of
Soldermalm, south of Stockholm's city centre. The manager of the
"hospoda" is Jari Ounasvuori, a Finnish man married to the
daughter of the Czech couple who set the pub up in the mid 1970s. When I
stopped by one evening, I asked him what Czech beers they had at the
Krogen Soldaten Svejk.
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MagazineMagazine
A Saudi Arabian princess gets her jewels stolen in Karlovy Vary -right
across the street from the town's police headquarters, a noted Czech
composer shares the secret of his success: he can hear mushrooms sing. And
the Prague 2 magistrate organizes a public execution: a pickpocket gets
his hand chopped off as a warning to others. Find out more in this week's
magazine with Daniela Lazarova.
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Czechs in HistoryThe Good Soldier Svejk - a literary character, a legend
He was a man who never lived, yet who went further in defining the Czechs
in the 20th century than perhaps anyone else: the most famous of Czech
literary characters, the Good Soldier Svejk. Created by the true bohemian
- as well as anarchist - writer Jaroslav Hasek, Svejk is often
impenetrable but ultimately irreverent beneath a simple child-like smile
most often mistaken for foolishness. He makes a mockery of his
"betters" within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ultimately seeing
through the hypocrisies of his day. Almost unintentionally he sabotages a
regime already coming apart at the seams under the fiasco of the Great
War. His greatest accomplishment: to survive in the face of adversity and
absurd situations, which continues to be his legacy for many Czechs...
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